 For more videos on people's struggles, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hello and welcome to Dispatches from India, where we bring you major news developments from the country. Today we look at the shocking death of an activist, the fate of an innocent man who was in jail for 11 years under a draconian law, and the concerns raised by food delivery workers in the city of Chennai. We begin with the death on Monday, that is July 5th, of activist and priest Dr. Stan Swamy at a hospital. 84-year-old Swamy was India's oldest political prisoner and was suffering from Parkinson's disease and had also contracted COVID-19 last month. He had worked for decades for the welfare of tribal communities in the country and was widely respected for his conviction in gentle demeanor. He was arrested in October in the controversial Elgar Parishad case. The case has to do with violence in the state of Maharashtra in the beginning of 2018. While right-wing groups were initially identified to have been responsible for the violence, over time the government began to claim that there was a left-wing terrorist conspiracy. Under this case, 16 academics, activists and writers, including Father Swamy, were arrested using the provisions of the Draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, which makes the grant of bail very difficult. The case has been widely criticized as an attempt by the government to crack down on dissenters in the country. From the time of his arrest, Father Stan Swamy faced a lot of difficulties in prison. He had to approach the court to even get a straw and a zipper, which he needed due to suffering from Parkinson's disease. His earlier attempt to bail was denied, even as his lawyers and friends listed how his health was deteriorating. On Monday, when he died, a court was hearing his bail plea. But it was too late for Father Stan Swamy. Across the country, voices of anger and criticism have arisen against the treatment of this 84-year-old man who remained in jail till his death, despite not being convicted of any crime. We bring you this response from Senior Journalist Bhasah Singh. We lost Father Stan Swamy. It's a personal loss for me and to many more in India. He was a activist. He was a tribal right activist. He was a human right activist. And above all, he was a very humble soul. I have been personally following him from more than a decade. I have seen his work very closely. He was arrested on 8th October 2020 under UAPA. He was charged with a Bhima Kuregaon case. He was charged for a terrorist that he was involved in a terrorist thing. He was involved in a bigger conspiracy against Indian state and to which he stood very firmly, said that no, he was working for the people. He was working for the poor people of the tribal belt of Jharkhand. And the way that things have happened that shows that how Indian judiciary has not given, not done justice to this person who throughout his life was working for the marginalized. He was continuously his lawyers and he himself was demanding for a bail. And we know that judiciary failed in this matter utterly. In the last hearing, in the NIA said that he was not suffering from something very dangerous. And after that, he was admitted to the hospital and finally to the ventilator and he passed away. I just want to read a few texts which he said openly when he was arrested and that shows his commitment to the cause. I will read a text. It is a part of a video which was circulated two days ahead of his arrest. In this, Stain Swami was speaking. What is happening to me is not something unique happening to me alone. It is a broader process that is taking place all over the country. We are all aware how prominent intellectuals, lawyers, writers, poets, activists, students, leaders, they are all put into jail because they have expressed their dissent or raised question about the ruling power of India. We are part of the process. In a way, I am happy. In a way, I am happy to be part of this process. I am not silent spectator. I am not silent spectator, but part of the game and ready to pay the prize, whatever, be it. And we have seen that he paid the prize from his life. The way the things turned in Taloja Central Jail, the way he was writing to his friends, the way he was just demanding that he want to go back to Jharkhand to his place so that he can take rest properly. He was not even willing to go to the hospital in Mumbai. But this whole thing happened in Mumbai. Everything was present, reported, everything was coming openly. And we have seen that the whole Indian structure, the legal structure, the political structure, not only kept silent, but they were part. They were part that this fellow finally perishes into death. And definitely, all those, rest 15 who have been arrested in Bhima-Koregaon case, I don't know what is their fate, but definitely it's a sad day. It's a sad day for Indian democratic structure. In our next story, we continue with this brutal law, The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. On June 19, the court in the state of Gujarat acquitted a Kashmiri man, Bashir Ahmad Baba, who was booked under this law that's UAPA. He was allowed to go home after the court founded the charges against him, which would have seeking to establish a terrorist network had not been proven. What Baba lost in this process was 10 years of his life in jail. He was arrested in 2010 from Gujarat where he had gone for training to set up post-cancer care services and he was declared a terrorist. News click talked to Bashir Ahmad Baba on this harrowing experience. We knew that this was a crime. Now, when this crime is proved, it takes time. And above all, this is the matter of the court. Now, when you come home, you know what happiness comes after you come home. What feeling comes. These things keep people away for 12 years. After 12 years, they come home. And in our final story, we go to the city of Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu, where we look at the plight of food delivery workers who face a wide variety of challenges. On the one hand, their workload is increased massively due to lockdowns. On the other hand, fuel prices have been increasing across the country, putting an extra load on them. Many of these workers are not able to even access their basic rights. We bring you testimonies from some of them. We are running. But we are running for three hours and four hours. In the coming new year, they have given us an order to earn 45,000-50,000 rupees. They have given us the ability to do the work that everyone has to do. Now, we are unable to earn the money that we have now. We are running from one location to another. We are running out of petrol. We don't even get water. They don't even thank us for the food that we are giving them. They just look at us as if we are getting food from outside. They just look at us as if we are getting food from outside. Delivery persons have become an intrinsic part of bustling metro cities like Chennai. While various state governments in India have sought to control the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic through lockdowns, the role of delivery persons in providing food to people have gained even more importance. Further, with the unemployment rate touching 6.9% in February this year, as per the data of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, more people have turned to this sector seeking jobs. However, the issues faced by these service providers amid the pandemic-induced lockdown have not received the necessary attention. The hike in petrol prices, with the rate crossing the Rs 100 per litre mark in many cities, have added to the distress of those engaged in delivery services, as motorcycles are a basic necessity for these workers. Not only that, workers have also raised complaints that corporate delivery platforms like Swiggy, Zomato, Shadowfax and Dunzo exploit them by paying a meager amount as salary. News clicks spoke with a few workers to find out more about the issues faced by them. I am a student like you, I am a BBA student. I was a supervisor in the University of India. I am now a Zomato student because of my hard work. I am not educated or social knowledge. I have a lot of social knowledge. You have come to me for a long time. Now, I am regularly riding a cycle. But a few days ago, we were sleeping here. I am a printer. I was designing printing press. In this lockdown, I could not afford to get a loan for the last year. I had a commitment. I had to study for the students. I had to live at home. This month was very difficult. So, this is the business that is running. That is why I joined this business. Because, it is only for petrol for half a month. Because, it is a new place for us. It is very good to go to the map. If you go to the map and find it, you can get the money and come back. One day, you cannot do more than 10 orders. Even if you do more than that, they will finish the story in 12 days. That is why it is very difficult. We are doing it without any other means. I am a mechanic. I did not get a job in lockdown. I came from abroad. I joined the recent business in the capital. The petrol costed Rs. 100, Rs. 99, Rs. 98, Rs. 59. I used to pay Rs. 200 in the morning. I used to pay Rs. 100 in the evening. I had to pay Rs. 300 in the morning. If I had to pay Rs. 590, I would have to pay Rs. 300. If I had to pay Rs. 290, I would have to pay Rs. 290 in the evening. I had to pay Rs. 200 in the evening. If we had to go for 1 km, they would pay Rs. 625. If we had to pay Rs. 590, we would have to pay Rs. 625. They gave us an amount before the lockdown. After the first lockdown, they reduced the amount. Why did they reduce the amount? They said that the company is going to the last. Now, we have been protesting from somewhere. They said that they will give you an order within a limited kilometre. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we were delivering tomatoes. If I were to attack Covid-19, I would have to take a test. If I were to say that Covid-19 is positive, I would have to intimate the company. They told us that they would not come to work for 2 weeks. They told us that they would pay Rs. 500. No, we do not indicate the corona patients. We do not indicate our app. If you look at it, there is an option to say no contact delivery. If there is no contact delivery, we should not go to them. We deliver to the corona patients. If they do not know the option while they are in quarantine, they normally order. We directly deliver to them. We do not see it at all. We do not treat the corona patients. If someone in our house orders, we go and deliver quickly. We return as soon as possible. They do the tomatoes. I earn Rs. 1,000 a day. Do you know how much it is? I earn Rs. 1,000 a day. But they are telling me without a reason. Because the city is here, this is the demand. So, there are young people like me who study here. When there are 100 people, 100 orders are correct. First, there are thousands of people. There is a job for 100 people. There are only 9,000 people sitting here. I would have taken 10 orders in the morning. But if you do not have time in the lock-in time, they will put half the money and half the money. When we say that, we are wasting our votes. Is there any way to tell the problem? There is no way to tell it, sir. There is no one to tell it. We are talking to a computer even if we make a ticket in the app. But when we share it with a human being, they will know that it is their problem. That's all we have time for today. We will be back next week with more news from India. Until then, keep watching People's Dispatch.